Creating Consistent Content Is Like Running A Marathon

Alright! So you're going to publish a ton of new content, right!? Might as well just publish a bajillion posts right away.

Or not.

Creating consistent content is like preparing for a marathon. It's not a sprint. And you're not going to be able to run it your first day.

You need to build up your tolerance—and practice your approach—and eventually, you'll be able to run a ton of miles in a relatively short amount of time.

Did you know that at CoSchedule for a while, we published three posts a week, and then we cut back to two? We jumped the gun and published more content than we could handle.

After we cut back, our content became longer. We actually grew our subscribers. And we had time to plan how we could publish three posts a week.

That's a true story about how consistent and quality content can build a loyal audience (we love you guys!) while building momentum for a successful blog. Now we're back to consistently publishing three blog posts of awesomeness every week.

It looks like publishing your blog posts Mondays at 11 a.m. EST gets you the most traffic. If your goal is pageviews, publishing your content consistently at this time should help you accomplish just that.

2. Commit to creating consistent content.

Before you add more content to your editorial calendar, get what you're already doing under control.

If you'll need help with anything to create the content, figure out how you'll overcome those challenges.

Planning the details ahead of time—maybe with a workflow—and getting everyone on board from the get-go is the best way to create consistent content. Even if you're a solo blogger, a workflow with a set of to-do lists can help you stay on track.

Here's an example of the workflow we use at CoSchedule from beginning to end to make sure everything is done at just the right time:

2. Enhance your process as you create more content.

Eventually, you'll get in the swing of things and writing your posts will take less time. You'll have a repeatable process. Right?

Well, you'll probably want to save even more time.

Automate whatever you can.

Manual processes are some of the biggest time wasters. You could use the time you save from automation for a bunch of other things.

Find tools, templates, and techniques you can implement to cut steps whenever you can (without sacrificing quality).

Stop doing what's not working.

Even when you're creating content consistently, you may find your stuff's just not impacting your marketing goals. Take some time to audit your content and really figure out what to do to connect with your audience.

3. Spread out the workload.

Rather, just make sure to assign tasks to be completed in advance of your publish date. This way, there won't be any hiccups when you're ready to publish... but your content's not complete.

Well... if you are in a company, ask for help.

If you're in a larger company, you probably need help (I feel like I can say that moving from the corporate world to a startup!). Ask for it.

Rely on your sales folks, your support peeps, and your front-line employees for ideas and content creation. If someone is willing to help you out, don't miss the opportunity to get their unique perspective.

Interview awesome people.

Think of the rock stars in your industry. Interview them for amazing content ideas.

Who are your best employees who just get your customers? Ask them why your customers love you.